HogarCheck is the Spanish startup, which has created an online tool to help users maintain and organize their homes. It helps to bring together and coordinate all members of the home in order for all family members to benefit and fully appreciate their homes.

KITE Invest: Please shed light on the origins of HogarCheck and give a brief account of the startups business trajectory.

Ernesto Sánchez: The concept came to my mind by chance. I had noticed that my wife follows up every home task very thoroughly in her agenda, which was definitely too laborious and tiresome. We sought tools and layouts to help us organize the home agenda, but there was nothing reliable.

A complementary online shop is our source of revenue, but giving a new approach: the system will remind you of the tasks and suggest the products just at the moment they will be needed according to their planning.

We then decided to study whether the complete concept would arouse interest and asked some web developers how feasible would such a tool be.

Some months later we launched the tool and are finalizing the online shop with all the necessary products for a proper maintenance.

KITE: Each home is different depending upon numerous factors such as number of people, family or non-family, age, financial status, culture and more.How does HogarCheck’s service take into account the numerous possibilities of what is a ‘home’?

ES: We are aware that every person has their own way of maintaining their home, and that’s the challenge. The tool has to be very flexible, and having this in mind we have designed it to be easy to use.

For that purpose, just when a user confirms their accounts a brief questionnaire pops up. The system creates a profile depending on their responses and activates tasks accordingly. Moreover, users can modify and adjust every task to their preference.

KITE: Are there plans to adapt this same concept to non-home scenarios?

ES: That’s one of the diversification options, adapting the tool for small business maintenance, such as bars, hair salons, etc. Along this same line, but with a different approach, we can also adapt the business for neighbourhood associations or schools, for instance

KITE: Is the HogarCheck home application available in multiple formats i.e. via a mobile app for smartphones and tablets?

ES: We haven’t developed an app yet, but the web is responsive and fits to any device. As it has lots of setting possibilities, we suggest configuring the tool in a personal computer or a large tablet. Although the daily follow-up can be done from any device, we are planning to design an app in the coming months.

KITE: Reaching clientele is one of the most important factors for any startup, especially one that is consumer-based.What measures is HogarCheck taking to ‘spread the word’? What are the company’s communication goals?

ES:We are still finalizing the communication strategy following the guidelines of a brilliant on and offline marketer. Our main goal during the first three months will be to start being identified by our target and to let them know how HogarCheck can be useful for them.

KITE: In the United States there are other online applications similar to that of HogarCheck, but none so far in Spain.As a startup and the only one in this domain, how is HogarCheck approaching the market and creating its own niche in Spain?

ES: We are aware HogarCheck won’t be interesting for everyone, every person gives a different importance to their home maintenance and has their own way of tackling it.

Reaching our target is a tough point because there are very few similar tools in the market and in the US there are very different tasks to those in the average Spanish home.

Our aim is to awaken users’ curiosity, make them test the tool and show we are not just an e-shop or just a tasks calendar.

KITE: What are HogarCheck’s long-term goals? What have been some milestones in the company’s development?

ES: In the long-term it would be amazing to create our own brand and develop products with, for instance, several small Spanish laboratories with great potential, and whom we are already in contact with.

The whole process was quite slow since the beginning, as HogarCheck’s platform has been tailor made.

The main milestones are still to come, but for the moment we qualified for the final round of Spain Startup and Mutua Madrileña “Soy Emprendedor” competition.

Moreover, we always receive interest when we explain the concept, and two different surveys of 400 people revealed that over 90% would use a tool that really helped them organize their homes. We now have to be able to make it reliable and easy.

KITE: In order to reach these long-term goals is HogarCheck seeking funding? If so, what is the startup looking for at this time and what is the return on investment for potential investors?

ES: At the moment we are not seeking funding actively, as we are focused on the tool and shop development. Although, investing on a strong social media and communication campaign in the short-term would lead us to another dimension. As it’s a new concept we cannot estimate how the market will react, hence we cannot commit to give a ROI for the moment. Nevertheless we will have some figures in the coming months and we’ll be able to make some estimation then.

KITE:Why should an investor finance HogarCheck in the future?

ES: Well, because we have potential to grow easily. For example, geographically just by adapting to different cultures and idiosyncrasies; and conceptually by changing the tasks to every specific business. Moreover, we already have the basis in the current tool, which now is highly and easily adaptable.